A Dutch project to clear plastic waste out of the Pacific ocean has had a second setback in a month - this time, one of the end parts of the boom used to catch rubbish has broken off. This 'structural malfunctioning of the cleanup system' means the team is returning to port earlier than planned, the project founder Boyan Slat said on the organisation's website. The 18 metre piece of the boom which has fractured off contains sensors and satellite communication systems. 'We are, of course, quite bummed about this as we hoped to stay out for a bit longer to collect more data on plastic-system interaction, and it introduces an additional challenge to be solved,' Slat said. The boom is now being towed back to Hawaii for repairs. System 001 has been safely opened and reconnected to the Maersk Transporter. 116 days after launching from San Francisco, the tow back to Hawaii for upgrade and repair has begun. Operations will resume as soon as possible. https://t.co/7H7V6YgvN5
— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) January 3, 2019 In early December it emerged that the plastic catcher, a 600 metre floating tube with a skirt attached to sweep up the plastic debris, was not moving fast enough to be able to hold on to the plastic. However, the problem is 'fixable', Slat said at the time. 'Although we would have liked to end the year on a more positive note, we believe these teething troubles are solvable, and the cleanup of the great Pacific garbage patch will be operational in 2019,' he said. More >

Early risers in most of the Netherlands were treated to a perfect view of a lunar eclipse on Monday morning. The 'super wolf blood moon' is a combination of a lunar eclipse, when the earth's shadow passes over the moon, and a super moon, which occurs when the moon is full and closest to Earth in orbit. The red colour comes from sunlight passing through Earth's atmosphere. In January, this phenomena is known as a 'wolf moon', according to CNN inspired by hungry wolves that howled outside of villages long ago. Check out the photos on NOS. More >

A 74-year-old Dutchman has made a formal complaint against the pope and the Catholic church for the sexual abuse he suffered as a boy in a seminary in Helmond, describing the institution as a criminal organisation. Theo Bruyns has received financial compensation from the church because of the abuse but says he still believes justice has not been done. 'If you want to start something against this church, you have to make sure it is branded a criminal organisation,' Bruyns told RTL Nieuws. In his formal police complaint, Bruyns alleges that the pope and other church leaders are members of a criminal organisation which aims to 'make it difficult to hinder or trace sexual abuse, as well as the rape of minors'. 'They hindered police complaints, kept things quiet, and it was organised,' Bruyns said. 'I have read all the files and seen how well organised this organisation is and how they have managed to keep everything secret.' Cover up The NRC reported last year that more than half of the Netherlands Catholic bishops and cardinals were aware of cases of sexual abuse between 1945 and 2010 and actively covered it up. In total, 3,712 people have reported being victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic church to a special hotline set up in 2010. At least 800 Catholic priests and monks were involved in abusing children in their care between 1945 and 1985, according to a comprehensive report into the church sexual abuse scandal published on December 16, 2011. Radboud University professor Peter Tak told RTL that the plaintiff faces a difficult job. 'The pope is not covered by Dutch law... you would have to make a complaint in Italy and I do not know if the pope, as head of state, has immunity.' More >

After a sunny but cold weekend, snow is set to hit the Netherlands on Tuesday, weather forecasters say. The KNMI weather bureau says it is 90% certain that snow will fall on Tuesday and possibly on Wednesday and Thursday as well. This weekend will be dry, with frost at night and daytime temperatures no higher than three degrees. The north east is likely to be the chilliest and the temperature could plunge to -8 degrees on Saturday night. The KNMI's long-term forecast says there is a 60% chance of continuing cold and changeable weather, with a 50% of wintry showers heading into February. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Dutch skating union KNSB says the organisation is ready to swing into action if it freezes enough for outdoor skating on natural ice. A marathon race can take place on outdoor rinks as soon as the ice reaches three centimetres thick. Five villages are competing this year to hold the first ice marathon, the KNSB said. Haaksbergen in Twente had the honours last year. Ice marathons have their origins in the long distances skated outdoors during spells of hard frost, which have become increasingly rare in recent years. Marathons became a serious sport in the 1970s. The current races cover distances of up to 200 kilometres. Seven things you need to know about skating in the Netherlands More >

Grocery shopping may be more expensive, health insurance premiums have gone up and energy bills are higher, but most people do have more disposable income in 2019, according to family spending institute Nibud. Nibud has studied pay slips relating to 100 common personal situations and found that in 96 of cases, people have more cash left over after paying their bills. 'But we are talking about 1%, or some €20 a month in some cases,' director Arjan Vliegenthart said. Nibud has developed an online tool where people can check the impact of the various tax changes on their disposable income. Comparison website Pricewise also published its calculations for the rise in household bills on Friday. It says families face an average increase of €600 a year in their bills for energy, internet, television and insurance. Single people face a €400 rise, Pricewise said. Among the extra costs facing consumers: energy bills are up 17% and car insurance 10%, the website said. More >

A landmark court ruling from July that was published only last month gives a surgeon who was reprimanded the right to be ‘forgotten’ by Google, Trouw reports. The surgeon in question was initially removed from the BIG register of healthcare professionals because she had been found negligent in the post-operative care of a patient by the medical disciplinary panel. After an appeal this was changed to a conditional suspension. Despite this, the first results after entering her name in Google were links to a website with a blacklist of doctors. According to the surgeon this amounted to a ‘digital pillory’. Attempts by her to have the links removed was rejected both by Google and privacy watchdog Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. The latter found that the doctor was still on probation and that the information was therefore still relevant, Trouw says. But in what is the first case involving the right to be forgotten by Google and the medical profession, the judge ruled that the surgeon’s right to privacy weighed more heavily than the interest of the public. The websites, moreover, refer to a non-official blacklist and may give people the idea the surgeon was unfit to treat people when the panel did not say this was the case, the judge said. Register According to Google, most people who want to know if doctors have been disciplined have difficulty in finding the way to the BIG register where a record is kept. But the judge said it is a simple system accessible to all. The surgeon’s lawyer Willem van Lynden said the ruling was ‘groundbreaking’ and that doctors no longer have to accept that Google connects them to decisions by the medical panel. Since the case he has requested the removal of links for some 15 doctors, half of which were accepted. Google is appealing against the initial case, Trouw reported. More >

Rules and regulation surrounding burials and cremations will be changed in the coming year to accommodate the wishes of the deceased and the family, home minister Kajsa Ollongren announced on Friday. The introduction of resomation, dissolving the body in liquid, will also be looked at, the minister said. This technique is currently not allowed in the Netherlands but Ollongren has asked the health council to advise on the matter. A report is expected in 2020. D66 MP Monica den Boer had earlier asked for the rules to be modernised following signals from families who wanted more freedom of choice when disposing of their loved ones, including the stipulation that bodies be buried after a wait of at least 36 hours after death. According to Jewish and Islamic tradition, people should be buried as soon as possible after death. ‘We want all common religions in the Netherlands to be able to practice their beliefs, without having to apply for special procedures,’ Den Boer said at the time. Under the new rules this will now be made possible. Families also said they objected to the word ‘lijk’, or corpse on the death certificate as ‘unnecessarily hurtful’. This may now be replaced by ‘body’. Ashes Families will also be able to pick up urns containing the ashes of their relatives from crematoria earlier than the current one-month wait. There will also be a solution for crematoria and funeral directors who are left with urns that are not collected by relatives, the minister said. What will not be allowed is to bury more than one person in one coffin or to cremate them together. According to the minister that could make it easier to hide a crime. There will also be clearer guidelines about mixing up the ashes of two people, as proposed by D66. More >

The Dutch journalist deported by Turkey on security grounds is suspected of falsifying paperwork, sources have told television current affairs show Nieuwsuur. Ans Boersma arrived back in the Netherlands on Thursday after being picked up when she went to renew her residency permit. A spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the deportation followed information from the Netherlands that Boersma had links to terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra. The Dutch public prosecution department later went public, saying that her name had come up in a criminal investigation relating to terrorism but that Boersma was not suspected of any terrorist activity. Boersma herself said on the Financieele Dagblad website that her deportation may relate to the fact that ‘up to summer 2015’ she had a relationship with a Syrian national who was arrested in the Netherlands last autumn because of his former membership of the Syrian terrorist organisation Jabhat al-Nusra. Various media outlets now report that this is the Syrian national spotted by activists attending a film at the Balie centre in Amsterdam in 2017 and who was arrested last October on terrorism charges. Residence permit The public prosecution department says they consider it likely the 32-year-old was active for Islamic terror group Jabhat al-Nusra before coming to the Netherlands. He was given a temporary residency permit in 2014. One source told Nieuwsuur Boersma is suspected of helping the man, whom she likely met in Turkey in 2013 or 2014, to get a visa for the Netherlands and that forgery is thought to be involved. Boersma herself has not commented further on the case. The man, who goes by the name Aziz, told the Volkskrant at the end of 2017 he had never had anything to do with IS. More >

The Dutch are eating less meat, with two in five people saying they cut down on steak and burgers last year, according to research by website Nu.nl. Around one third of the 20,000 people polled said they ate meat every day, while one in 10 is vegetarian and 7% fully vegan. Some 90% of vegetarians and vegans said animal welfare issues were the main reason for giving up meat. The environment was the main reason cited by meat eaters who had reduced their consumption, but around 50% also mentioned animal welfare. A quarter of the vegetarians in the survey had given up meat at least 20 years ago, but around a quarter 'converted' in 2017 or 2018, Nu.nl said. Last month, broadcaster NOS reported that the Dutch are buying more vegetarian hamburgers, chicken nuggets and other meat substitutes but meat is still king. According to data analyst group IRI, meat substitutes are becoming more popular but still only represent a fraction of what is spent on meat. In the first 11 months of 2018, some €2bn was spent on meat products, compared with €97m on replacements. The first ‘national week without meat’ in the Netherlands was held last March. During that week spending on substitutes shot up by 50%, partly because supermarkets had offers on to promote the products, NOS said. More >

Help us to keep providing you with independent daily news and longer reads

Dutchnews.nl is independent and receives no state or other funding. We work with professional journalists, translators and photo agencies who understand the Netherlands well. All this comes at a price.